Marc Jacobs’ runway show is easily the most hotly anticipated of the season. Now, on the heels of the announcement that Marc Jacobs canceled his after-party festivities comes news that the designer’s show will me massively scaled back.

For the MJ’s February 16th Fall/Winter 2009 show at the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue, the guest list is being cut from 2,000 (1,100 seated and 900 standing), to 700 (500 seated and 200 standing). As for the celebrities in attendance, despite the number of famous faces usually bountiful, President of Marc Jacobs International Robert Duffy said that “there may be one or two.”

Many in the industry have thus subsequently questioned why the MJ team is sticking with such a massive venue given the cut in attendees, turns out it was booked over a year ago and keeping it will ensure saving money on a massive cancellation fee.

Duffy added that he doesn’t feel that this is the time to spend money to entertain the entire world, saying that “everybody thinks it costs the same money to entertain 500 people as opposed to 2,000. It doesn’t. All those 2,000 people still need to be seated, they still need to check in, this one needs this, that one needs that, and you know what? It’s very costly.”

It was further noted by Duffy that these efforts to scale back the show will help avoid laying off Marc Jacobs employees.